to
OW
have come straight out of A, particularly the closeup of W getting his
cigar lit. It makes me wonder if W didn’t have a hand in the direction
of those shots. He was known to often direct his own scenes in other
people’s movies, and Steno is not exactly a famous name as a director,
so he probably would have been easy for W to overpower.
Very interesting T, that the film was released in America. If so, was
it an English-language dub or a subtitled version? If it was the dub,
was that dubbed version done by W himself? We know from the PB book
that W raised money around that time by creating English language
versions of Italian films. Why not this one?
An additional note on Pirandello: According to B W’s Bio-bibliography,
W also wanted to make a film of Pirandello’s HENRY IV, one of two
Pirandello plays (the other being SIX CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF AN
AUTHOR) that are considered icons of surrealist theatre. The film
never came to fruition, but may have had an influence on the
surrealist aspects of both M D R and D Q, which the title character in
HENRY IV bears some resemblance to in his mad delusion of being a
historical figure.
GM
non-liberal cultures.
That’s an ominous sign, although it could be because THE THIRD MAN is
arguably more of a British film then an American one. Of course, one
could say the same thing as well about LAURENCE OF ARABIA, which made
the top 10 in both the ’97 and ’07 shows. It wouldn’t surprise me if
the much-more-popular THE GODFATHER dethroned KANE in the next AFI
show, if there is one. It might even do so in the next Sight and Sound
poll, where Kane has reigned for 50 years.
Charlton Heston was one of the biggest stars in movies when I was a
kid, but he barely rated mention in the ’07 show, with BEN-HUR coming
in at #100. Betty Davis, one of the all-time female icons in
Hollywood, has only ALL ABOUT EVE to represent her in both lists.
Spencer Tracy was barely on the ’97 list, with GUESS WHO’S COMING TO
DINNER placing at #96. He’s not on the ’07 list at all.
j